Humanitext Reader

Ovid · Sorrows §5.6.1-5.6.46

Appeal to an Abandoning Friend for Loyalty and Support

Passage 52 of 60 · Latin

Summary

The poet appeals to a once-trusted friend who is abandoning him, urging him to remain loyal and fulfill his duty even in adversity, and emphasizes the immensity of his own misfortunes to beg for continued support.

§5.6.1Tu quoque, nostrarum quondam fiducia rerum, §5.6.2qui mihi confugiam, qui mihi portus eras, §5.6.3tu quoque suscepti curam dimittis amici, §5.6.4officiique pium tam cito ponis onus?
You also, once the trust of my affairs, who were for me a refuge, who were my harbor, do you also dismiss the care of the friend you undertook, and lay down so quickly the pious burden of duty?
§5.6.5sarcina sum, fateor, quam si non tempore nostro §5.6.6depositurus eras, non subeunda fuit.
I am a burden, I admit, which, if you were not going to lay down in my difficult times, ought not to have been taken up.
§5.6.7fluctibus in mediis navem, Palinure, relinquis?
Do you leave the ship in the middle of the waves, Palinurus?
§5.6.8ne fuge, neve tua sit minor arte fides.
Do not flee, and let not your loyalty be less than your skill.
§5.6.9numquid Achilleos inter fera proelia fidi §5.6.10deseruit levitas Automedontis equos?
Did the fickleness of faithful Automedon ever desert the horses of Achilles amidst fierce battles?
§5.6.11quem semel excepit, numquam Podalirius aegro §5.6.12promissam medicae non tulit artis opem.
To the sick man whom he once received, Podalirius never failed to bring the promised help of his medical art.
§5.6.13turpius eicitur, quam non admittitur hospes: §5.6.14quae patuit, dextrae firma sit ara meae.
A guest is cast out more shamefully than he is not admitted: let the altar which stood open be a firm support for my right hand.
§5.6.15nil nisi me solum primo tutatus es; at nunc §5.6.16me pariter serva iudiciumque tuum, §5.6.17si modo non aliqua est in me nova culpa, tuamque §5.6.18mutarunt subito crimina nostra fidem, §5.6.19spiritus hic, Scythica quem non bene ducimus aura, §5.6.20quod cupio, membris exeat ante meis, §5.6.21quam tua delicto stringantur pectora nostro, §5.6.22et videar merito vilior esse tibi.
At first you protected nothing but me alone; but now protect equally both me and your own judgment, if only there is not some new fault in me, and my crimes have not suddenly changed your loyalty, may this breath, which I draw with difficulty in the Scythian air, (which I desire) depart from my limbs before your heart is wounded by any fault of mine, and I seem deservedly cheaper to you.
§5.6.23non adeo toti fatis urguemur iniquis, §5.6.24ut mea sit longis mens quoque mota malis.
We are not so completely oppressed by unjust fates that my mind also is moved by long misfortunes.
§5.6.25finge tamen motam, quotiens Agamemnone natum §5.6.26dixisse in Pyladen improba verba putas?
Yet, imagine it were moved: how often do you think the son of Agamemnon spoke wicked words against Pylades?
§5.6.27nec procul a vero est quin et pulsarit amicum: §5.6.28mansit in officiis non minus ille suis.
And it is not far from the truth that he even struck his friend: nonetheless, he remained steadfast in his duties.
§5.6.29hoc est cum miseris solum commune beatis, §5.6.30ambobus tribui quod solet obsequium: §5.6.31ceditur et caecis et quos praetexta verendos §5.6.32virgaque cum verbis imperiosa facit, §5.6.33si mihi non parcis, fortunae parcere debes: §5.6.34non habet in nobis ullius ira locum.
This is the only thing common to the wretched and the blessed, the deference that is accustomed to be paid to both: way is yielded both to the blind and to those whom the bordered toga and the commanding rod with words make respected, if you do not spare me, you ought to spare my fortune: anger of anyone has no place against us.
§5.6.35elige nostrorum minimum minimumque laborum, §5.6.36isto, quod reris, grandius illud erit.
Choose the least and very least of my troubles, even that will be greater than that which you think.
§5.6.37quam multa madidae celantur harundine fossae, §5.6.38florida quam multas Hybla tuetur apes, §5.6.39quam multae gracili terrena sub horrea ferre §5.6.40limite formicae grana reperta solent, §5.6.41tam me circumstat densorum turba malorum.
As many wet ditches as are hidden by reeds, as many bees as flowery Hybla protects, as many ants as are wont to carry found grains under their underground granaries along a slender path, so great a crowd of dense misfortunes surrounds me.
§5.6.42crede mihi, vero est nostra querella minor.
Believe me, my complaint is less than the reality.
§5.6.43his qui contentus non est, §5.6.44in litus harenas, in segetem spicas, in mare fundat aquas.
He who is not satisfied with these, let him pour sand onto the shore, ears of grain into the cornfield, and water into the sea.
§5.6.45intempestivos igitur compesce tumores, §5.6.46vela nec in medio desere nostra mari.
Therefore, check your untimely swelling, and do not desert my sails in the middle of the sea.

Notes

  1. §5.6.2confugiam — This can be understood as a scribal variant of the noun *confugium* ("refuge") or as a relative clause of characteristic/purpose ("who was to me [a place] where I might flee"). Either way, the fundamental sense of being Ovid's refuge is maintained.
  2. §5.6.5depositurus eras, non subeunda fuit — "depositurus eras" is an active periphrastic expressing past intention ("you were going to lay down"), and "non subeunda fuit" is a passive periphrastic expressing past obligation/necessity ("it ought not to have been undergone"). It forms a conditional sentence contrasting past intention with past duty.
  3. §5.6.19spiritus hic ... exeat ante ... quam ... stringantur — The main verb is "exeat" (present subjunctive expressing a wish), with "ante... quam" introducing the subjunctive subordinate clause "stringantur". The parenthetical "quod cupio" ("which I desire") emphasizes the poet's strong wish to die before causing any offense to his friend.
  4. §5.6.31ceditur — Impersonal passive of the intransitive verb *cedere* ("to yield, give way"), governing the datives "caecis" ("to the blind") and the implied antecedent of the relative clause "et [iis] quos...".
  5. §5.6.36isto, quod reris — "isto" is an ablative of comparison governed by the comparative "grandius". It refers to the friend's perceived burden or complaint which he "thinks" (reris) is heavy, contrasting it with Ovid's own much greater sufferings.

Cite this passage

Ovid, Sorrows §5.6.1-5.6.46. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi008.humanitext-lat2:5.6.1-5.6.46

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